Yamuna will get back its fish by December 2023: Satyendar Jain

A man looks on at Yamuna River, in New Delhi. The water level in the river increased after 1.31 lakh cusec water was released from Hathnikund Barrage due to heavy rainfall in the hills. (Image: PTI)

Delhi Water Minister Satyendar Jain Tuesday said the Yamuna river in the national capital will be completely cleaned and made fit for bathing and propagation of fish by December 2023.

All the wastewater in Delhi will be tapped in the next six months and all areas will be linked to the sewer network in the next 15 months, he said at a virtual session organised by Assocham.

"We will clean the Yamuna by December 2023 and not 2025. All the drains will be completely cleaned... I am confident. We will invite you all to take a dip in any stretch of the river in Delhi," he said. "The Yamuna and all the drains in Delhi will be so clean that you will find fish in the water," Jain added.

The minister also said that in the next five to 10 years, Delhi's groundwater table will be as good as it was 50 years ago. "We conducted an experiment on 25 acres of land at Palla (on the northern outskirts of the capital city near the Delhi-Haryana border)... It proved successful and we are replicating it now," he said.

The Palla project was a part of the Delhi government's endeavour to augment the city's water supply. The three-year pilot project which started in 2019 involved retaining excess Yamuna water in shallow reservoirs on the floodplains during the monsoon season.

The government had created a 25-acre pond on the floodplains of the Yamuna to retain floodwater and installed 33 piezometers to ascertain the rise in groundwater levels.